


Road Trip

by MultiOTP



Category: Supernatural
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Brotherly Love, Gabriel is an annoying big brother, Road Trip, Supernatural AU - Freeform, rejected proposal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-10
Updated: 2015-11-25
Packaged: 2018-05-01 01:05:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5186360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MultiOTP/pseuds/MultiOTP
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In light of a rejected proposal, Castiel Novak is wallowing in misery at his job, until his brother drags him on a road trip to recollect and bond as brothers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Phone Call

_“You have: four new messages.”_

_“Whaddup baby bro? Mom told me what happened with your girl…yikes. Real sorry about that. Nobody really saw it coming…call me sometime, yeah? I’d love to try and reconnect.”_

_“End of Message.”_

_“Hey, it’s me again. ‘S been a while since we spoke, it would be nice if we could get together sometime. Get lunch. Talk life. Eventually end up worse off than when we started. But let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, yeah?”_

_“End of message.”_

_“Hey, I’m your brother._

_And this is crazy._

_You have my number._

_So call me. Not maybe. Just do it.”_

_“End of message.”_

_“Castiel, please contact me. I know you’re still brooding over her. It’s been almost four months, I’m worried. Please, give your favorite, albeit only, brother some peace of mind that his brother is at least alive. CALL ME. I’ll sic mom on you. Don’t make me.”_

_“End of final message.”_

Castiel puffed and closed his eyes, ruffling his hair with his arms on his desk and head in his hands. It was not unlike Gabriel to do something like this. Rag on him about getting over someone he already was over, by threatening to ‘sic’ their mother on him, and outdated song references nobody cares about anymore. Not that this had happened in the past, Gabriel was just very predictable.

Though a frightening prospect, they both knew he wouldn’t actually ask their mother to call, as Gabriel disliked speaking with her as well. Well, that was a lie, because nobody who spoke to their mother actually got any speaking in. So that wouldn’t happen, but it would be cruel of him to leave his brother hanging, unsure if he was emotionally stable.

He considered this, staring pensively at the house phone with contempt and annoyance. Decisions were tedious.

He was about to turn away when the phone began ringing again. He still did, but turned back around when it went to voicemail and Gabriel started talking.

_“Alright, listen up you little-“_

“What do you want, Gabriel?”

Silence on the other end of the line. He took three seconds to recollect himself, before sighing.

“Where’ve you been Castiel? I’ve been worried.”  
“Working, unlike some of us. I’ve been working on moving on without you yapping about reconnecting with the family.”  
“And look at what good it did you. Holing up in that big empty house and avoiding everybody. I’ve been reading your articles recently. You’re getting more and more cynical, mom’s worried.”  
“I’ve always been cynical.”  
“Not to the point of flat out writing articles on how engagement rings are a ‘total scam’. You’re pitiful.”  
“Says the thirty year old man working at a candy shop.”  
“At least I like what I do. And don’t complain to random strangers about engagement rings being a scam.”

Castiel ran his hand through his floppy black hair, eyes shut and lips pursed.

“Well, there it is. I checked in. I’m alive. Totally good, no need to call every week. Goodbye.”  
Castiel slammed the house phone down, rubbing his eyes. He could be such a…pest at times. A plague in his every day, already dismal life. If he tried hard enough, he’d forget he even had a brother, dreaming of a simpler childhood life that consists of his own room and no competition for their parent’s affection.

He leaned back in his chair with a little grin, possibilities flooding his brain of what could have gone differently if he hadn’t had a brother. Science fair projects finished, not getting bitten by that stupid rat Gabriel insisted on keeping in their room, his own computer that wasn’t constantly infected with whatever, his work not always getting deleted, general cleanliness, this was a nice fantasy. He’d have to visit more often.

He groaned and leaned forward again, massaging his temples, pleasant mood dispelling. If he got down to it…Gabriel was right. He was still upset. Who wouldn’t be? You love the girl, you buy the ring, you pop the question, and she says _no_. So now it was him and his dog, alone in the three bed two bath he had purchased in hopes of raising that family they were always fantasizing about. Now it just served as a constant reminder of his idiocy, left to wonder where he went wrong. What he did wrong. What was wrong with him.

It had to be something wrong with him, right? Why else would she reject him? She was near perfection. They had three years together, and potentially their whole lives. Where did he screw up?

Why did it end up this way?


	2. Sick

It was weeks before Castiel heard from Gabriel again. When he did, it was through passive-aggressive emails and equally passive-aggressive texts. Work was stressful, his dog was sick, his coffee machine was broken, and he had ants in the kitchen. After a long, long day of all that, he simply didn’t have it in him to listen to his brother ranting about emotional damage and reconnecting.   
A lot of people hate Mondays the most. Understandable, what with it being the start of the work week, and nobody likes work. For Castiel though, it was Thursdays. They haunted him. Just an extra, obsolete day between him and Friday, the holy grail of the week. Things always went wrong on Thursdays, see the above paragraph for reference. However, amongst all that, he never could have planned to receive a call from his brother like this. Correction, he had planned to receive an ignored phone call from his brother, but the content of this call differed from the others greatly.  
“Castiel, please. Something’s wrong with mom, please call me, she wan-“  
“What’s wrong with mom?” Castiel picked up the phone in the middle of Gabriel’s ramble about their mother’s wishes, just in time to stop him to inquire about what exactly was wrong with their mother.  
“He speaks. Mom’s sick, she wants to see her favorite son. And you too.”  
“Fatally?”  
“No idea, I haven’t spoken to the doctors. Mom didn’t say.”  
“Where are you?”  
“The store, wh-“  
“Pick me up tomorrow at noon. Sharp. We’re going to mom’s.”  
Castiel slammed the phone down, rising from his chair and pulling off his tie. If his mother was sick, he had to go. He was not looking forward to conversation with his brother or mother, but it was inevitable. If his mother’s life was at stake, he couldn’t be heartless enough to not see her, regardless of how hard he had tried to avoid the very thing he was willingly marching into at noon tomorrow. Confrontation with how old he was really getting. He knew that compared to his work peers he was still a “spring chicken” as they’d eloquently put it, but in his mind it was older than he’d like to admit. Almost thirty. In just a few months too. He’d planned to be married by twenty five, kids by twenty seven. He’d had a very strict plan for his life, and it was all going off the rails because he fooled himself and wasted his time with someone who didn’t even love him.  
It was heartbreaking, but he had to push his trauma aside to pack. No doubt his family would guilt him into staying two, three days, so he packed accordingly. Three shirts, one pair of pants, and his toothbrush. If he had his way, that would be all he needed. He wouldn’t let his mother guilt him into more, he’d been there and regretted that before.  
He received a text from Gabriel two hours later, as he was preparing his usual meal for one. He’d grown used to that routine, as well as others that come as a reality of living single. More room in the bed, cooking less food, ect. The smaller aspects and indifferences of single life. He pulled out his phone and squinted, before reaching around with one hand on the counter to find his glasses.  
“pack extra $$”  
Considering it was purely illogical that his brother was asking him to physically pack a symbol, a concept, of which did not exist in the physical aspect, he had to assume he was being asked to pack extra money. Why, he wasn’t sure, but he didn’t question it. His mother had insurance. His brother, though working an odd and immature job, did receive well enough pay. He had the means for food and lodging, so perhaps things had just gotten more expensive in the hospital. Nonetheless, he did take heed to his warning and packed a few extra hundred.   
With nothing left to do for the evening after eating, all he could do was pray for his mother and sleep.


	3. Bags

Oh, this was unacceptable.

Purely infuriating.

He’d said noon. Sharp. As far as he knew, noon was still twelve hundred hours, while the sun was highest in the sky, high noon.

     It was now 12:27, and Gabriel was not there yet. This was exasperating, simply intolerable. To think that he, a grown man, could not follow instructions so easy as “be there at noon, sharp” was…perplexing. At the least. The most had no words.

     Gabriel roared up in that piece of crap hunk of metal to likes to pretend was a car. As soon as he pulled into the driveway, Castiel was already marching up, finger erected and mouth open, prepared to give him an earful for his twenty seve-no, twenty eight minute tardiness. Before he could start rambling as Gabriel stepped out of the car, he had to scramble to catch the bags hurled at him, two in a row.

     “We’re taking your car, better gas mileage.”Gabriel smirked after this, reveling in his success at avoiding yet another rant from his mini-mother about the importance of punctuality and keeping true to what you said. Well, that was more possible when traffic wasn’t backed up for miles. Too bad it wasn’t, or he really would’ve had a more valid excuse than sleeping in, but he’d pretend it was.

     “My car does 20 miles a gallon, my gas mileage sucks.”  
           "It’s better than the 15 mine does, so suck it up. Yours is bigger anyway.” Castiel didn’t object, shaking his head and seething in silence before turning to walk back to the car and setting one of the bags down, popping the trunk and setting them in. Gabriel had packed quite a bit for a two to three day trip, perhaps he was planning to stay longer. A week, judging by the size and weight of the bags. Or maybe he was bringing extra clothes for their mother after she got out. Yes, that seemed reasonable. Either that or he decided to make a pit stop and kidnap a small child to stuff in, and that was purely illogical. Then again, he did have that extra twenty eight minutes to explain…

     Regardless, Castiel packed it in along with his own bag, and stood up. As soon as he did this, Gabriel slapped his back (a bit too hard) and held his hand out.

     “Keys. I’m driving.” Castiel rubbed his temples and tossed them to his brother, too frustrated and annoyed to fight him. He was looking forward to getting into the passenger side, digging into the book he'd packed, and drowning out his menace of a brother. Perhaps some music, or even an audiobook would help. Anything to sooth the growing migraine, growing since the first time he’d ever laid eyes on the man.

     He slammed the back door and slid into the passenger seat, with his small messenger bag, of which held his book, laptop, and iPod. His only tools to escape the inevitable conversation on how he was doing, or how he was handling things. If he was handling things at all. Gabriel did love to fuss over such things, regardless of the body language Castiel was clearly speaking, quietly telling him to shut up before he got hurt.

     Before Gabriel could even fire up the car, Castiel had his iPod on and book in his lap. Both earbuds in and book wide open, these would be seen by anybody with eyes as clear signs reinforcing the “Don’t talk to me” proverb. Gabriel had before failed to notice these, but this time seemed to get the clue. He fired up the car and peeled out of the driveway, taking off at speeds that should not be reached on a suburban road. Or…anywhere else, really. He slowed after a minute or so, reaching a more acceptable speed considering his current location and company. Of course, Castiel was too engrossed in his book to notice this, as well as Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14. Both far more interesting that his brother, who’s only real conversation topics were how the candy shop was doing and whatever girl he was stringing on this time. Neither served satisfying conversation, so the Sonata would have to do.

     It wasn’t until their forty minute ride started passing streets and landmarks Castiel didn’t know did he lift his gaze from the paper, and begin to notice they weren’t headed the regular path to the hospital.

     “…Gabriel, where are we going?”  
          “The hospital. Obviously.” He replied, with a grin.   
               “This is not the route to the hospital.”  
                    “Yes, I’m lying to you and taking you to Canada. I’m just taking a different route, idiot! Not everything is some crazed conspiracy out to get you.” Castiel huffed, crossed his arms, and turned away. He knew everything wasn’t put to get him. Just most things. Almost everything.

     Neither here nor there, Gabriel’s response raised a red flag or two. It was like him to be oddly specific about their supposed destination then actually go there. Well…this hadn’t particularly happen before, but it wouldn’t be unlike him at all. After a while of debate, he settled on going back to sleep and waiting for them to arrive at the hospital. He’d have to be well-rested to console his no-doubt crying mother.


End file.
